Boot-lace.



H.VVFSHORT. 4

300T LACE. urmuuip'narnmn JUNE 19, 1912.

Patented May 20, 1913.

MVENTORV Hgnr-y William snow NTOENEYS i shown as mounted on a boot-tree.

55 hooks d. arranged (in conti N T D E- ATENT OFFICE HENRY-WILLIAMsnoa'r, Ortounom-nuetann.

. Boom-men.

Specification ofLetters 1 atent. 1

- PaitentedMay 2Q, 1913;.

Application med .Tune 19', ion. Seria1No.704;559.

To all whom itmay co'ncem: v p l Be it known that I, Hmvar WIILIAM"SHORT, a subject of the King of)- Great Britain, and resident of 238Seven Sisters 5 road,-,London, England, scientificsinstrument maker,have invented a' certain jnewf and useful- Improvement in-Boot-Laces, ofwhich the following is a specification;

flexible and extensible spring-coupling;

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a; front view of a lace-upboot-closed bymeans'of theimproved'lace, the boot being Fig. 2 is aperspectiveview of a' similar boot, the upper' or hooked portion of thelaced closure being unfastened to allow of the boot being put -on; Fig;3 is a view of the improved lace, shown separately (on a larger scale)together" with the spring-coupling connecting. its extremities; and:Fig. 4 shows the $5 spring-coupling alone, this being viewed indirectionsat right angles to one-another in r 3 and 4 respectively.Figs. o and' 6 are perspective-views ofthespring-couplmg (drawn to alarger scale than Figs-3 and 4), respectively illustrating successivestages in 4 thermanufacture-of the coupling in its pre- .fem'ed-fonn. I

V The: laced closure-,throughout itslower p fi 5. nently fastened), isefiected byipassing the lace arthrough eyelets b ar-Qange off-theboot;while the'closure, throughout .jjits upper or final portion (which aloneis "150 commonly unfastened when-the boot is to be fput on or takenoff), is as a rule eflecte'd by; .T" pa ing each member a 'and a (Figs.2lan d' 3) ofthe double-ended lace a from side to side. of theopening-0' so 'as 'ito engage withf fil e mq hfl.

. m g f eyelets Z2) inel 1..

Heretof'ore it'has been customary to leave (which is commonly keptperma-' I in a'series of. 'pa'irsmti, opposite sides iof the openingpairs at opposite'sides of said opening; the

respectlve members al and a? of the lace" crossing; one another betweensuccessive pairs of. the'hooks d and each member-an and'a engaging'with'the hooks at alternate sides ofthe openingc; all these features being asusual.

For the purpose of the present-invention .the respective members (1 ,100of the lace should be ofequal" length and just long enoughto engage withthe last or uppermost pair d v of the hooks when the lacing iscompleted, and to permit'of attachment to the spring-coupling bymeansot" whichthe ex-.

tremities of the lace are permanently con 'nected together. On referenceto Fig. 1 it,

will be seen thatwhen the boot is laced-up, the spring-couplingconstitutes a cross-bar which engages over the tops of the uppermostpair d of the hooks.

vents the; hooks being fully seen, but, their In Fig. 2 the splayingapart of the fi'apsjof the boot pre positions-are indicated bytheeyelets whereby theyare secured in position as'usual. I -Thespring-coupling comprises a colled spring 6 of a length only sutficientto approximately bridge the distance separating the hooks of a-pair, anda pair of eyes P, f formed on the ends of the coil e and adapted to givepassage to the res ective members 0 a of the lace; both 0 said eyes P, f

extending in substantially one plane, which -is parallel to the axis ofthe-coil e and approximately tangential to. the surface of the latter,as indicated.

Each member a or a of the lace' ais attached to the spring-coupling bybeing threaded through the corresponding eye 1- or F, knotted as at g toprevent complete retraction through the eye, and drawn back until theknot g engages the eye, the raw extremity of the lace (indicated at hinFig. 3)

being thereupon tucked into the tubular spring-coil e'so as to becomeconcealed as indicated at the left-hand side of Fig. 3.

In the manufacture of the spring-c011 pling', the eyes f, f arepreferably each formed by a terminal-convolution of the coil .ebeingbentdown out of its original pos1- tion so as to occupy the.position already described and clearly shownin Fig. the convolutionsthus displaced formlng loops as clearly shown in Fig. 4. Themereoperation ofthhs bending down each terminal convolution out of itsoriginal position piglet-overs e leave spring wire (whereof the coil 6is formed) exposed at what may be regarded as the outer (or lower) sideof the eye 1 or f as indicated at j in the perspective View, Fig.

against and injure the fingers or any object with which thespring-coupling may be brought 1nto contact. In order to overcome vthisdefect, it is preferred to subsequently displace each extremity of thewire from the posltlon indlcated at 7', Fig. 5, to that indicated at is,Fig. 6. This further operation has theeifect of reversing the directionof windingof the loop which constitutes the eye, and bringing eachextremity of the wire from the outer '(or lower) s de to the inner (orupper) side of the corresponding eye f or F, in which new and finalposition the raw extremity of the wire is concealed and completelyshielded by the knot g of the lace when the latter is combined withever, various simple expedients may be re the spring-coupling in themanner already described.

r In the event of the lace a stretching when in wear, its effectivelength may be permanently shortened by shifting one or both of the knotsg farther up the lace. Should this not be convenient at the moment,howsorted to during the lacing operation itself. Thus, for example,where only a slight amount of shortening is desired, the members a a'of'the lace may, between two or more successive pairs of hooks (Z, betwisted about one another and thereafter brought back to the originalside of the opening c, instead of being led right across the opening asshown in'Fig. 1. Or, where a greater amount of shortening is necessary,each member a a of the lace may be wound around both hooks of a pair,and led back to that hook of the pair with which it first engaged,before the lacing is continued. On theother hand. in the event of thelace at any time proving too short to reach to the last or uppermostpair (Z of hooks when the lacing operation is performed in the normalmanner, the spring-couphng may yet be -made to engage over said lastpair of hooks either by omitting to engage the respective lace-memberswith a pair or pairs of hooks below the uppermost pair (P, or byomitting (once or more often) to cross the respective lace-members fromside to side of the opening 0; each member a and a ofthe lace in thelatter case being preferably made to engage (say) two books in directsuccession on the same side of the opening of the boot. 7 As thespring-coil e is both flexible and extensible, it will be evident thatthe springcoupling is adapted, while yielding with the movementof thefoot, to maintain the tension of thelaceand the securityof the closureefiectedthereby.

Claims.

1. An improved endless shoe lace consistspring having its ends formed aseyes adapted for application to the lace, but made of less diameter thanthe knots, as described.

3. The combination with a spring-coupling consisting of a coiled springprovided with eyes at its opposite ends, both ofsaid eyes extending insubstantially one plane which is parallel to the axis of the springcoiland approximately.tangential to the surface of the coil, of a boot-lacewhose members are threaded through the respective eyes of thespring-coupling and provided with knot-s to prevent complete retractionof said members through the eyes, substantially as described.

a. The combination'with a spring-coupling consisting of a coil of springwire whereof the terminal convolutions are bent out of their originalpositions to constitute eves, said terminal convolutions when ,thusdisplaced extending both in substantially one plane which is parallel tothe axis of the coil and approximately tangential to the surface of thelatter, and each extremity of the wire being further displaced so as ineffect to reverse the direct-ion of winding of the convolution whichforms the corresponding eye. of a boot-lace whose members are threadedthrough the respective eyes of the spring-coupling and provided withknots to prevent complete retraction of said members through the eyes,substantially as clescribed.

HENRY lVILLIAM SHORT. lVitnesses k I HERBERT D. JAunsoN,

O. J. WORTH. r

